bikes

Need a “new” bike to get around the Island this spring? Got enough air in your tires? Have bike projects to do?

Head on over to Cycles of Change, the Alameda Point Collaborative bike shop at 650 West Ranger, and you’ll find friendly folks like Jerrard Green (above) who’ll get you started.

Jerrard — a student at Alameda College — can walk you through the shop’s extensive selection of used bikes, which are priced above and below $50. There’re plenty of bike tires available, too, as well as new bike lights and other accessories.

There also are staff like Barry (right, above) and Ebony to do repair work. But you can rent tools and bike stands to do the work yourself for $5 an hour.

Cycles of Change sells used bikes to fund its activites, which focus on helping youth and other community members at Alameda Point pick up skills. In addition, it offers the community a great place to make donations of old bicycles. It says these projects mean that 30,000 pounds of bikes and parts are diverted from landfills each year.

The shop is open from 12-6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. It may start Sunday hours in the future.

I wrote about my family’s no-car experience in my column last week, Car-free and OK. And, as with most everything that humans do, I am not to first to give this sort of endeavor a try. You can read about other people’s experiences with reducing car travel: